Stuart Alexander Bennett (born August 10, 1980 in Preston, England) is an English bare knuckle boxer turned professional wrestler who debuted for NWA UK Hammerlock Wrestling in 2004 as Stu Sanders. He went on to work for Dropkixx Wrestling, Real Quality Wrestling and All Star Wrestling events, as well as the Welsh promotion creatively called Welsh Wrestling. He would win the Dropkixx IWC Heavyweight Championship as he moved through the UK scene.

In 2006, He got a developmental deal with WWE, who repackaged him as Lawrence Knight, although later it was changed to Wade Barrett. He is best known as the winner of the inaugural season of NXT, and, more importantly, as the original leader of what was shaping up to be one of pro wrestling's iconic Power Stables, The Nexus (until that didn't exactly work out). Afterwards Barrett formed The Corre with former Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel in January 2011 and won his first Intercontinental Championship, a title that he won overall five times.

He began appearing on WWE programming as Bad News Barrett in late 2013, a figure standing at a podium who serves to inform the wrestlers and/or the audience of whatever poor fortune they're about to experience, until becoming the King of the Ring winner in 2015 and changing his ring name to King Barrett. He left WWE in May 2016.

Can these tropes have a bit of decorum, please?:

Aborted Arc: His feud with Bo Dallas. Dallas eliminated him in the Royal Rumble, beat him on Raw the following night, they had a couple of confrontations backstage, and then his character disappears into development(al) hell. Barrett didn't get his win back until April 24, 2013 on WWE NXT, which was unwatchable at the time if you don't have a Hulu+ subscription.

Arch-Enemy: At first, the WWE management due to how they were treated during NXT, then John Cena and Randy Orton. Kofi Kingston, of whom he managed to get the IC title from twice. Bo Dallas looked to be, but that appears to have been dropped in favor of The Miz.

Artistic License – Martial Arts: At his return in 2012, Barrett was introduced in vignettes showing him exercising his bare-knuckle boxing skills in fight clubs. However, his new finisher wasn't a punch, but an elbow smash. Surprised?

Audience Surrogate: He was supposed to be a heel as Bad News Barret but got a lot of support from the crowd when he predicted The Miz vs Brodus Clay to be "the worst match of all time" and told Brodus to go back to his dancing gimmick because he was boring without it.

Boring but Practical: His new finisher is essentially an elbow to the face, which, of course, in Real Life, can legitimately knock someone unconscious. And the shortened version (without the wrist lock transition) can be hit suddenly and used as a counterattack, resulting in some Didn't See That Coming ends to his matches.

Break the Haughty: Once he got carried away in wanting the WWE Championship and torturing Cena to get it, to the point of making the Nexus become all about him and forgetting all the aspects that made the group synonymous with its theme song, he ended up gradually but certainly losing the Nexus - to the point he found himself reaching to CM Punk for help in keeping them. CM Punk, by the way, who showed a clear intention to replace him. Naturally this didn't end well for Mr. Barrett.

He seemed to have learned his lesson, however, as he ushered in the Corre, but claims he's not even taking a leadership position in that group. But then came the #1 contender battle royal on April 15th. He was the first Corre member to declare that the others would be helping him win that night, and just went on to become more monolithic to the point of alienating Jackson, who he had violently expelled rather than let walk away, then Slater and Gabriel as well. The latter two ended the Corre then and there.

Brutal Honesty: As Bad News Barrett. He would pop up at the end of the JBL and Cole Show, telling someone something rather obvious. For example he first tells Hornswoggle that the shows ending and that he doesn't have any more airtime.

Butt Monkey: For someone that's billed mostly as a no-nonsense brawler, there's been an awful lot of comedy at his expense - not the least of which has been having his Intercontinental Championship title belt stolen, initially by Dean Ambrose, and then having a handful of guys literally playing keep-away with his belt... and if that weren't enough, he's going to be forced to defend that title belt which he no longer physically has, in a ladder match at Wrestlemania against two Cloudcuckoolanders in R-Truth and Ambrose, a dangerous physical masher in Luke Harper, and two insanely popular face technicians in Dolph Ziggler (who's won the IC Title himself four times) and the guy that won WWE's top title at last year's event, Daniel Bryan. And that may not be the whole field.

Characterization Marches On: When he first appeared he was a cynical, greedy, charismatic British thug, now he's become a scheming, manipulative, brutal war leader.

Inverted during a 7/29/11 promo on Smackdown where he said that he had come to the United States to make a lot of money, but had gotten sidetracked in the past 12 months. He announced that we were going to see a return of basics for Wade Barret, stating that greed is terribly underrated.

Demoted to Extra: The man went from being a major threat with The Nexus on Raw and The Corre on Smackdown, to having a brief feud with Daniel Bryan, to not appear on television much at all. Then after appearing somewhat frequently on television as a midcarder, he vanished for no explicable reason before reappearing under the name Bad News Barrett & going months without a match as he spent most of his TV time giving people telling the crowds why they sucked.

Disc One Final Boss: He was the original Big Bad of the Nexus... until CM Punk hijacked the leadership of his stable while he was out after the Chairs match he had with Cena, then promptly kicked him out, leading him to set up the Corre on Smackdown.

Establishing Character Moment: Maybe more of a 're'-establishing character moment, but the promo where he talked about getting "back to basics" and stated that "greed is terribly underrated" definitely counts.

Evil Brit: In a subversion though, he claims that most people are truly evil and despises society for trying to be otherwise, even himself during the periods he tried to be otherwise.

Evil Versus Evil: He's had a beef with Fandango in the past couple of weeks, resulting in a triple threat match (along with The Miz) for the Intercontinental Title at the upcoming WWE Payback. That is, until Fandango suffered a concussion and was replaced by Curtis Axel

Against CM Punk for control of the Nexus and the against Cm Punk's new Nexus after forming the Corre.

Expy: His English background, powerfully built body, natural villainous charisma, and 'gentleman brawler' persona make him a near-dead ringer for a young William Regal.

Finishing Move: The Wasteland, a modified rolling fireman's carry. He briefly went with a spinning side slam called the Winds of Change. Upon his return from injury, his finisher's an arm wrench transitioned into a forearm smash to the face called the Bull Hammer.

Game-Breaking Injury: In February of 2012 he partially dislocated his elbow, and was out for several months, then in June of 2014 he separated his shoulder, and due to him having to be out for several months due to surgery, he had to vacate his IC title.

Genius Bruiser: Has a degree in Marine Biology and spent his youth as a bare knuckle boxer.

Genre Savvy: In his NXT introduction video he basically gives a detailed description on the giant trope and explains why it will always be successful. Kevin Nash argues that Wade Barret is too small to be a giant though.

Good Scars, Evil Scars: Heath Slater claimed Wade was an obvious thug because of his scar and broken nose, which is a little harsh considering that nose came from just earning a living boxing and that scare came from someone attempting to mug him of that living wage.

Groin Attack: Went through a pretty rough series of them on the 3-25-13 Raw. After being dim enough to interrupt Triple H's exit, Trips fairly non-nonchalantly kicked him as hard as he could right in the plums (Wade's choice of words.) Next, he had to wrestle a match against The Miz, who used this to his advantage, starting the match with an Inverted Atomic Drop. The match finally ended after Wade went for a kick that left him strung out over the top rope, his third Groin Attack of the night.

I Did What I Had to Do: Feels completely justified doing what he did to get himself and the rest of the rookies contracts.

Informed Ability: Played with. Anytime one of the announcers mentions his backstory, they'll usually mention that he was a bareknuckle fighter in Britain. But Barrett's wrestling style seems to involve a lot of power moves as opposed to the strikes and punches you think you would see.

Now averted. Upon his return, he's become almost exclusively a striker.

Insistent Terminology: A possible inversion. He insisted on not being called the leader of The Corre, as it was an alliance of "four equals." Unfortunately, his It's All About Me attitude led to the Corre splitting.

It's All About Me: If Wade approaches you about forming a unit and he promises you equal status with him, do not listen. He'll appear to be all for equalism at first, but in truth his biggest flaw is that he just cannot give a flip about anyone but himself. He got kicked out of Nexus and the Corre was disbanded because of it. Details:

Seemed at first to genuinely care about the welfare of the other Nexus members, risking his own contract and title shot to secure contracts for them, but this eventually came to only apply if you were loyal to him and lived up to his standards. Darren Young and Michael Tarver were obvious weak links, and were brutally excommunicated for their trouble. David Otunga fancied himself The Starscream and was forced to lay down and surrender the tag titles to Gabriel and Slater. Also, Barrett was prepared to let the other Nexus members all keep falling victim to sneak attacks rather than bring John Cena back…until they made it clear they would desert him for it. Thus began his Humiliation Conga.

The same pattern repeated itself with the Corre. He was again the main speaker for the team, but he seemed to have accepted that it wasn't all about him, even going out of his way to declare his fellow Corre members his equals. But then a world heavyweight championship battle royal came into play with all four members as participants, and Barrett fell right back into the same old habit starting from there. You'd think he'd know better, but at this point he just doesn't freaking care. It's lampshaded in the new theme he started using afterwards, too.

The Kid with the Remote Control: Between Hell in a Cell and Survivor Series in 2010, John Cena had to obey Wade's orders to remain employed. This seemed at first like heaven for Barrett, Nexus, and smarks worldwide alike. But then it workedout terribly.

Noble Demon: As leader of the Nexus, who was basically tearing up and beating people down because he could not do it to the WWE management directly. He even apologized for attacking John Cena and Bret Hart. Later when he was in the Corre he claimed they were only attacking powerful people like The Big Show because they respected them and would not be attacking weaklings.

Non-Action Guy: Seems to be developing in this role in the League of Nations stable. Out of Sheamus, Rusev, Del Rio, and King Barrett, Barrett was the only one who was not involved in a feud with another Superstar at TLC, to the point of being completely absent from TLC when the League of Nations interfered in the championship match between Roman Reigns and Sheamus. During tag matches he's involved in, he doesn't get tagged in at all and the rest of the stable does all the fighting. He does, however, support the team by distracting the referee or whoever the League is fighting, often leading to a devastating move shortly after. Justified because he's recently had a nerve injury in his neck and is taking time to recover.

Put on a Bus: He was out for seven months after suffering a partially dislocated elbow in February of 2012. This really killed his momentum and a potential push, since it was rumored at the time that the Money in the Bank ladder match was to move back to WrestleMania and had Barrett slated as the winner. His injury caused the match to be scrapped and was eventually replaced by the GM vs. GM match between John Laurinaitis and Teddy Long. Barrett hasn't been able to regain his lost momentum since.

"The Reason You Suck" Speech: On the NXT Season finale, he and David Otunga had 60 seconds to deliver one of these speeches to the other. Otunga would spend that time making fun of Wade's appearance, specifically his lanky body and crooked nose. Wade would deliver an epic retort centering on David's inability to wrestle, stating that The Great Khali moves around with more balance and poise than Otunga does. He would then cap off the rant blasting Otunga's "It-Factor" tag line stating that the only reason WWE promoted that is because he had absolutely no tangible qualities whatsoever, and that he could add two more letters in front of it to understand what Wade really thought of Otunga.

The Rival: Sheamus O'Shaunessy, all over the Island. Then Stu Sanders got signed by WWE, only to find Sheamus beat him to the active roster.

Running Gag: Every year at the time of the Royal Rumble, Barrett tweets that Papa Shango is a returning entrant in the Rumble match.

Satisfied Street Rat: His first gimmick on NXT, he was a greedy, bare-knuckle brawler who grew up rough and was damn proud of it. Also a bit of a William Regal Expy.

Shades of this character still exist. Particularly his greed. This eventually ended any chance of his successfully leading Nexus or Corre, to which he simply responded that he was getting "back to basics".

Serial Escalation: Initially did his Bad New Barrett segments behind a ring-side podium, but now he does them on a decorated scissor-lift 20-feet above the stage.

Small Name, Big Ego: Gained a huge ego after having a bit part in "Dead Man Down", starring Colin Farrell, even saying he's a bigger star than The Miz, who was the starring in his movie The Marine 3. Granted, Dead Man Down opened in theaters and had a decent opening weekend, while Miz movie was released on DVD/Blue Ray.

Smug Snake: With the exception of his leadership roles during the Nexus and the Corre, Wade Barret has never been as threatening or successful as he believes himself to be. This was most apparent when Vince McMahon was sending him after Daniel Bryan.

Sore Loser: After being eliminated by Bo Dallas, a WWE NXT rookie who been given an opportunity to take part in the Royal Rumble, he returns to eliminate Dallas, and on top of that, gives him a Bull Hammer.

Still the Leader: Said this pretty much verbatim after CM Punk took over The Nexus. Punk would respond to this by costing him a shot at The Miz's WWE championship—and ripping Barrett's Nexus armband off as an exclamation point.

Tall, Dark and Snarky: From NXT onward, though he initially tried to suck up to Chris Jericho only to be encouraged down this path. The bad news gimmick even comes with a giant podium so he can look even further down on everyone while he makes jokes at their expense.

Then, after both of his Power Stables split, he was relegated to the mid-card again for a few months. Ever since he started the "Barrett Barrage", though, he's been running roughshod over most of his competition - including tossing Randy Orton off a staircase.

Troll: A number ofWWE.comvideos have revealed he likes being one backstage, usually by hijacking the websites' cameras and bugging his coworkers with silly or inane questions.

Turns Red/Limit Break: A literal instance of this trope when he's about to use his Bull Hammer elbow - or, rather, he pulls his elbow pad back and/or turns it inside-out, revealing a bright red elbow pad.

Underwear of Power: He seems to be the WWE Superstar who wears those tighties ALL THE TIME. Even during backstage segments. However, he does wear a formal type of clothing whenever he is on the commentary.

Unreliable Narrator: About instantly told the world that Daniel Bryan was kicked out of The Nexus for showing remorse. About a year or so later during the two's brief feud on SmackDown, Bryan calls that into question, stating that Barrett kicked him out because he saw him as a threat to his power.

Villainous Valor: Perhaps. As opposed to the Dirty Cowards that most heels are portrayed as (even when it doesn't make much sense), Wade doesn't back down from enemies and has gotten the vast majority of his post-Power Stable wins clean. When a guy can go toe-to-toe in a brawl against a pissed-off Randy Orton and take him down, that guy must be credited for some serious Brass Balls.

We Used to Be Friends: This comes in a lot when he faces off against a former fellow from The Nexus (or, by extension, the Corre) note Justin Gabriel or Daniel Bryan - which seems to happen fairly often. The Three Month Rule is put to rest for a moment as one of the announcers (if not Barrett himself) will reference his and his opponent's time in one of those stables together.

Wrestling Doesn't Pay: Downplayed - it's not really part of his gimmick so much, but apparently he's become a barber in his in-universe free time, as evidenced by Cody Rhodes paying him to get rid of Cody's mustache as well as Vince Mcmahon himself hiring Barrett to (at least attempt to) take care of Daniel Bryan's beard (and the word 'beard' doesn't quite do it justice) in order to give Bryan a more corporate look. (This backfired on Barrett spectacularly, by the way.)

Xanatos Gambit: Positioned John Cena as special guest referee in his title match against Randy Orton. If Barrett leaves as champion, Cena's freed from Nexus. If Orton does, Cena is fired.

However, Cena Out-Gambitted him. Orton won and Cena was fired, but that merely allowed Cena to assault Nexus on a weekly basis. On top of that, Nexus already turned the security against them and when it looked like Cena was cornered by Barrett's trap, Cena revealed he had an army of RAW superstars who hated Nexus as much as him ready to help him out. Then Cena proceeded to set up a The Dog Bites Back moment by tricking Barrett into pretty much saying he valued his own safety over that of Nexus, causing them to abandon him to Cena and force Barrett to hire Cena back.

Yank the Dog's Chain / Cruel Twist Ending: Maybe the most prominent example in WWE history. The company largely seems to be on his side, and he regularly gets himself over, but he incredibly seems to get injured/hindered right as he's about to be elevated

While the Nexus and the Corre didn't work out as well as it could have, Barrett came out of it relatively well, and started his 'Barrett Barrage', which included a successful feud with Randy Orton that included him shoving Orton down a flight of stairs. Soon, the Money in the Bank match was set to return to WrestleMania XXVIII and Barrett was slated to win it... Then, the night after Elimination Chamber in what Chris Jericho called the 'Battle Royale of Death' for the number of injuries, Barrett broke his elbow and missed WrestleMania, and the Ladder match was scrapped.

Then, upon coming back (with a brand new haircut and beard), he went into a successful run as Intercontinental Champion including great matches with Dolph Ziggler and begins ascending again ... only to dislocate his shoulder and have to drop the title.

While recovering, he begins making Troll comments in the form of Bad News, and once recovered, he again begins getting over as Bad News Barrett, with great matches against Big E Langston and Dolph Ziggler again. But then, his work visa ran out and became very hard to resolve to the WWE's touring schedule. So, he was forced to essentially disappear from WWE, and because it was his work visa, they couldn't set an angle or explanation for his disappearance.

After getting his affairs squared away, he comes back to a standing ovation and was still so over that people were talking about having a Heel–Face Turn. Then, with the Money in the Bank 2014 approaching and all the other entrans engaged in feuds, Bad News Barrett was penciled as the winner. But, at the SmackDown before the event, at almost literally the last minute, he had his shoulder dislocated by Jack Swagger, who oddly gave Dolph Ziggler the concussion that stalled his momentum years earlier. He missed the event and the Money in the Bank went to Seth Rollins.

Then after again recovering, he came back and won the King of the Ring, and eventually was put into the League of Nations. And in many eyes', he had the best chance of excelling in the group; he didn't have any backstage heat like Rusev (and his girlfriend Lana) and he didn't have any IWC disdain like Sheamus or any IWC disinterest like Alberto Del Rio. However, shortly before the formation, he was having shoulder issues and then it was discovered he had nerve damage in his neck, so during the stable's entire run in which Sheamus was World Heavyweight Champion, he literally couldn't do ANYTHING! Seriously, the man cannot catch a break and with news that he was released in May, he may not get the chance.

"Your entire set of words above have been officially redacted from the WWE Universe. Have a great day!"

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